The cavalry clashed, and thousands of horses galloped.
On the frontal battlefield, the soldiers of the cavalry battalion fought bloody battles for a long time. First, they fought a bloody battle with the infantry of the Liuthief Front Battalion, and then they clashed with the heroic cavalry of the Liuthief Front Battalion led by Li Laiheng. At this time, the physical strength of all the soldiers in the cavalry battalion had reached the limit.
The same is true for the more than ten thousand knights under Li Laiheng's command. What's more serious is that the military morale of the rogue knights has begun to waver, and even the cavalry formation has begun to collapse.
However, facing such a favorable situation, Xu Ming did not order to divide the enemy forces. Instead, he continued to lead the cavalry battalion soldiers to huddle together and continue to confront Li Laiheng's heroic cavalry in a strict cavalry formation.
This is because, just two miles away to the west of the battlefield, the 40,000 strong knights of the middle battalion led by Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin and other thieves leaders have been dispatched and began to charge at full speed towards the battlefield. The rolling cavalry was unstoppable, and the smoke and dust in the sky were thrown into the air by the iron hooves, like a sandstorm, and even the earth trembled with the advancement of the cavalry army.
"Turn right forward!"
After Xu Ming led his troops to confront Li Laiheng's cavalry for the fourth time, he looked at the approaching cavalry army of the bandits in the middle camp and had to order a turn. If the delay continued, the soldiers of the cavalry battalion would be attacked from both sides by the bandit cavalry.
After rushing out of the battlefield, the soldiers of the cavalry battalion rode their horses to the right front, then crossed the periphery of the battlefield. After completing the turn, they began to rush towards Kaifeng City at full speed.
"Just a little bit!"
Xu Ming galloped on his horse, looking at Li Laiheng's banner that was getting further and further away. He was very angry. Liu Yan's order to him was to kill the general and capture the flag, but he led his troops to fight for a long time with the heroic cavalry of the bandits' front camp, and the soldiers in the camp were lost. Quite a few, but they never completed the task. They watched Li Laiheng alive and well in the distance.
At this time, 40,000 elite new troops led by Li Zicheng were about to arrive. Xu Ming knew that he had no chance. What he had to do now was to think about how to stop Li Zicheng's army. 33
The soldiers of the cavalry battalion rushed out for more than two miles and regained distance from the heroic cavalry of the bandits' front camp. At this time, Li Laiheng also led more than 10,000 knights from the bandits' front camp to withdraw and regrouped on the west side of the battlefield.
After these several confrontations, Li Laiheng's heroic cavalry lost more than 3,000 people, leaving only about 10,000 knights and horses, and more than half of the army had been lost.
At this time, the heroic cavalry army has not collapsed yet, entirely because Li Laiheng is in charge of the army, and at the same time, Li Zicheng's banner is coming quickly. Otherwise, according to the past practice, these brave knights would have dispersed long ago and all fled for their lives.
Such heavy casualties made Li Laiheng feel heartache. The elite cavalry from the front camp, which he had painstakingly built, were almost crippled by Liu Yan's cavalry. Fortunately, Li Zicheng had already arrived with his troops at this time. Li Laiheng ordered the remaining knights under his command to prepare to continue fighting. The whole battalion followed the knights of the Zhongying camp and launched another attack on the new army soldiers in Qinglai Town.
"I want you to die!"
Li Laiheng looked at the battle flag of the cavalry camp in the distance and cursed in his heart.
At the same time, in the cavalry battalion, Dong Yun, the commander of the left wing, shouted loudly: "General, look, the artillery battalion and the middle battalion have already gone to battle!"
Xu Ming was shocked when he heard this. He hurriedly pushed his feet hard, stood in the stirrups and looked east. Sure enough, he saw the battle flags of the New Army artillery camp and the middle camp, fluttering in the wind just a mile behind. At this time, Xu Ming could still vaguely see that all kinds of artillery in the artillery camp had been deployed, and all the muzzles were pointed forward.
"grown ups……"
Xu Ming then looked forward again, and saw that Li Zicheng's troops had joined Li Laiheng's troops. The bandit's cavalry army had increased to 50,000 men. There were countless banners moving behind them. They were the armored soldiers and other infantry from the bandit's front camp. As well as the firearms battalion soldiers and horses led by Li Dingguo.
"The bandits are about to launch the final attack! Your Excellency, it's time to give it a go!"
The frontal battlefield is different from the two wings. Because the two-wing battlefield is blocked by moats and city walls, there is not much open space left for the bandit troops to charge. Liu Fangliang's and Li Guo's troops can only use troops in echelons. To put it bluntly, they can only use "adding fuel" "tactics", so Liu Yan only used the personal guard battalion to hold the two wings and contain the hundreds of thousands of troops left behind.
Such a scene looks very dangerous, but in fact it is as stable as Mount Tai, because on the two-wing battlefield, every time the bandits and horses launch an attack, they can only invest thousands of soldiers and horses, and at most more than 10,000 people. In terms of strength, holding on is not a problem.
Xu Ming looked at the main force of the bandits who had begun to charge at full speed. Li Zicheng's King Chuang's banner was fluttering in the formation. It was moving quickly with the torrent of cavalry. At this time, the bandits' heroic cavalry was rolling in. They were only more than two miles away from the cavalry battalion soldiers. .
"General, give the order to charge. If we don't charge, we will be knocked to the ground by the bandit cavalry!"
Du Zhongming, Lu Yuan and others on the side were shouting. At this time, the distance between the two sides of the cavalry was getting closer and closer. If the soldiers of the cavalry battalion did not charge, it would be too late. Failure to charge at full speed during the cavalry battle would be fatal.
Xu Ming raised his spear and was about to order the whole battalion to charge, when a group of Chinese army messengers came on horseback: "There is an order from the main town: the cavalry battalion immediately retreats and gives way to the frontal battlefield!"
Xu Ming, Du Zhongming, Lu Yuan, and Dong Yun were stunned. At this point in the battle, Liu Yan actually asked the cavalry battalion to withdraw. Is it necessary to use the artillery battalion and the middle battalion to defeat Li Zicheng's tens of thousands of elite cavalry?
However, there was no time to think too much at this time. Xu Ming and others also understood the meaning of military orders. After verifying Liu Yan's warrant, they immediately ordered the entire battalion to retreat.
After several rounds of hedging, the cavalry battalion only had more than 8,000 troops left at this time. Under the leadership of Xu Ming, the entire battalion of soldiers quickly retreated, rode their horses through the artillery camp, and rushed towards the middle camp behind. .
Xu Ming saw Qian Qian in the crowd at a glance and shouted: "It's up to you!"
Then Xu Ming rode his horse and rushed over, and Qian Chong also shouted: "Look at me!"
Qian Qian and a group of gunners looked at the soldiers of the cavalry battalion flying past. They saw that many of the soldiers were exhausted. Some of them were even lying on their horses. They were obviously exhausted. This showed the fierceness of the battle.
Moreover, Qian Qian also noticed that the number of people in the cavalry battalion was much smaller. Although there was no time to count, there were definitely no more than 12,000 people. The casualties among the soldiers of the cavalry battalion were huge, which already exceeded the losses in the bloody battle in Liaodong.
At this time, Qian Qian's face was ashen. Since the formation of the new army in Qinglai Town, they have never suffered such a big loss, even when they faced the Qing army in Liaodong. Unexpectedly, outside Kaifeng City, they were attacked by hundreds of thousands of thieves. The siege actually suffered such heavy casualties!
"Brothers, cheer up and let those bandits know what artillery fire coverage means!"
"Okay! Kill those bandits."
"After filling, blow them up!"
The many gunners in the artillery camp were excited. They looked at the approaching army of bandits and knights in the distance without any fear at all. Everyone was in their positions. The third commander of the artillery camp, all the more than 200 artillery pieces were loaded, and they were just waiting for Qian Qian. With a single order, they can open fire and bombard them.
At the same time, in the cavalry formation in the middle camp of the bandits, Liu Zongmin heard the sound of horns from the front army. He grinned and shouted loudly at Li Zicheng, who was galloping beside him. shouted: "King Chuang! Liu Yan's cavalry has withdrawn. That is the horn sound of the enemy's retreat!"
Li Zicheng did not speak, but nodded to indicate that he heard.
However, Li Zicheng had a doubt in his heart. Liu Yan's cavalry was obviously very determined to fight. They had clashed with the former battalion's cavalry many times, but they refused to retreat. Why did they suddenly retreat? Li Zicheng has always been suspicious, which is one of the reasons why Li Zicheng can survive to this day. At this time, Li Zicheng felt a little uneasy in his heart, but this uneasiness was temporarily suppressed by the roaring iron hooves of the Cavalry Army, and it did not allow Li Zicheng to make any arrangements. Come.
At this time, the cavalry army was charging at high speed. Even if the bandit scouts in front discovered something, they could only rely on their horns to convey information to the Chinese army. However, the horn's tone is very monotonous, and the content it can convey is also very lacking.
At best, it just conveys some very general news: enemy retreat, enemy reinforcements, defeat of the front army, etc.
Therefore, Li Zicheng was not sure at this time. He didn't know if Liu Yan's cavalry really couldn't hold on anymore, or if Liu Yan was playing some trick.
Liu Zongmin has followed Li Zicheng for many years and is very familiar with Li Zicheng. When Li Zicheng wanted to fight Cao Cao and Luo Rucai, Liu Zongmin made a judgment with just a few words and assisted Li Zicheng to capture Luo Rucai and annex his troops.
At this time, Liu Zongmin turned to look at Li Zicheng, who was frowning. He already had some calculations in his heart, and shouted loudly again: "King Chuang! I don't think so much. No matter how cunning Liu Yan is, he only has tens of thousands of troops. What tricks can he do?" ?”
Li Zicheng thought the same thing. He had united Li Laiheng's troops and had nearly 50,000 knights. With such strength, he could remain invincible even against the Tatars outside the pass, unless Liu Yan had other back-ups.
Looking at the city of Kaifeng in the distance, Li Zicheng concluded that even if Liu Yan temporarily pulled out all the new troops in the city, they would only be able to withstand the charge of his nearly 50,000 knights in two rounds. Liu Yan would definitely lose this battle!
Most of the knights in the bandit camp are armored, and even the thousands of knights in the vanguard are armored. This kind of defense is enough to allow a large group of knights to rush forward against the firepower of the new army, and the maximum casualties will be greater.
What Li Zicheng is not afraid of most is heavy casualties. Anyway, he has hundreds of thousands of troops and horses. Even if all are lost, as long as Kaifeng City is captured, he can easily raise hundreds of thousands more horses!
At this time, Li Zicheng stopped thinking and waved his hand forward. Liu Zongmin next to him understood the situation and roared happily. More than twenty personal guards raised their horns at the same time and blew the horns with all their strength.
Tens of thousands of bandit knights speeded up again amidst the sound of the horn, rushing towards the New Army artillery camp in front with all their strength. Behind the heroic cavalry army, tens of thousands of armored soldiers and other infantrymen from the bandit's front camp were also running desperately. Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang, and Ai Nengqi also led the firearms battalion to collect and reorganize the 20,000 troops and rush forward quickly.
These three armies of thieves gathered into a huge dragon. The black military uniforms of the thieves army matched with the bright red blood on the battlefield, which was extremely eye-catching.
Qian Qian looked at the army of bandits and knights that had rushed within two miles. The expression on his face was very ferocious. He gritted his teeth and roared angrily: "Well done! Brothers, listen to my order and let go!"
Some people died, but not completely...
